Solar Industry Scorches Records

By Minh Le, Director, Solar Energy Technologies Office

A new report on the solar power industry signals a major milestone for America’s clean energy economy. According to the latest GreenTechMedia Research and Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) Solar Market Insight Year in Review 2013 report, photovoltaic (PV) installations continued their impressive growth, increasing 41% over 2012 to 4,751 megawatts (MW) of installed power in the United States.

Today, there are more than 440,000 operating solar electric systems in the United States, totaling more than 12,000 MW of PV and 918 MW of concentrating solar power (CSP)—nearly 15 times the amount installed in 2008.

According to the report, 100% of new electric generating capacity in Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Missouri, Vermont, and the District of Columbia came from solar energy. Cumulatively, 29% of all new electricity generation in the United States came from solar power in 2013, making solar the second-largest source of new generating capacity behind natural gas. See the complete EERE Blog.